Tackling the challenges of aging with expert solutions.

“Wandering” in Dementia Patients: the Home Care Perspective

Wandering is one of the greatest challenges faced by family caregivers whose loved one has Alzheimer’s or other memory loss. Over 60% of Alzheimer’s patients will become lost at some time. Most are gone only briefly, though long enough to frighten their loved ones. Others may be lost for an extended period of time, and unfortunately, there are news reports each year of missing Alzheimer’s patients who are never located. It is a sobering fact that if a person with dementia is lost for over 24 hours, he or she is likely to suffer a fall or other serious injury, or even death from injury or exposure. Reports one family caregiver, “The thought that Dad would climb onto a bus at the corner and we would never find him again keeps me awake at night, even on nights when he is getting a good night’s sleep.”